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Entering the campus UWC-USA feels like entering a huge candy shop. The most delicious candies attracts my attention. I want to taste every single sweet. All those eye catchers in the candy shop are comparable with all the amazing activities at UWC-USA. From sports to lessons, from volunteering to socializing, from homework assignments to clubs… Every moment is joyful and sleep time is the first one to decrease.
The word “napping” is a word I did not know before I came to UWC-USA. Within a month, it became a word my friends and I use frequently. Sleeping for 20 minutes to catch up seemed a perfect solution for my problem of too many choices. Sleeping became a conscious part of my life. I started planning it.
Each Monday, first years attend in “Wellness” lessons. In those lessons, teachers tell us how to take care of ourselves, including time management and sleep. They taught us that during sleep the brain commits new information to the memory. In that way, this information stays in your brain. Besides that, sleeping improves your mood. Not having enough sleep can be linked to increased stress and hormone levels, irregular heartbeat, and hypertension. Lastly, a good amount of sleep stabilizes your immune system.
Get Away-families offer a great opportunity for students to catch up with sleep. Get Away-parents can take you for a certain time off campus to get away. Students can spend a day, an evening or a weekend with them. Especially if you go for a weekend, you can catch up with sleep and homework easily.
At this point, I experienced a weekend at the house of my Get-Away family, Brian and Nicole King. Yesterday, they drove me to the north of Las Vegas, to their horse range. After a night of good sleeping I woke up with a beautiful view of the plains of New Mexico. Together with my Nicole, I fed the horses, the donkeys, and the dogs. We drove on a quad through the protected zone in their garden. Smelling the fresh air and watching nature gave me a wonderful feeling. Especially knowing that raccoons, elks, pumas and mountain lions live there, gave me deep satisfaction. With an refreshed mind I started studying for my math and theatre tests.
A sense of gratefulness comes to me if I think of the Get Away-families. I truly appreciate them for the wonderful oasis they provide us.
Floor Fiers, Montezuma (USA)
Floor Fiers 